With the launch of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Pokemon fans have a lot to be happy about. With a new open-world design, new types, evolutions, and forms of Pokemon, and completely reinvented combat and exploration, Pokemon Legends: Arceus brings plenty to the table.
However, as many Pokemon players turn to the future of the franchise, many cannot help but look back at some older entries in the series. Much like how Pokemon Legends: Arceus added space-time distortion and many other new features, some previous entries added mechanics of their own that were removed in future games.
For example, in Pokemon X and Y, Mega Evolutions were added to the series. Mega Evolutions were new forms of previous Pokemon triggered by stones that players used in tandem with a bracelet; the forms were much more powerful than their bases and would sometimes feature type changes and new abilities. They were also quite imposing, much like Alpha Ursaring in Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
While Mega Evolutions gave some Pokemon new forms, the Z-moves introduced in Pokemon Sun and Moon gave many Pokemon incredibly cinematic and powerful moves that could decimate opponents. Along with their power and incredible animations, the moves also had matching crazy names, such as Supersonic Skystrike. Even the trainer is added into the animation, performing a special dance that presumably activated the move. While Pokemon Legends: Arceus added some new moves, none of them are quite as captivating as a Magikarp leaping into the air and smacking down onto an unsuspecting Espeon.
This is perhaps what prompted this Reddit post by user -et37-, as the removal of recently added features has become a negative trend among the Pokemon games. Mega Evolutions never made it out of Generation 6, leaving fans questioning why such an interesting change would be removed so soon. Even worse was the plight of Z-moves, which never even made it out of their games' regions, being confined to the region of Alola permanently. Gigantamaxing and Dynamaxing, two features which allowed certain Pokemon to experience a massive growth in size and strength, have also never been brought back since their appearance in Pokemon Sword and Shield. These scrapped features, which were regarded positively among much of the playerbase, leave players fearing for new features such as Pokemon Legends: Arceus changes to trade evolutions.
Hopefully Game Freak will listen to its players in the future and add these beloved features to new titles after Pokemon Legends: Arceus, or at the very least keep the features added in the game. If Game Freak decides to cut all of the new, positive changes from Pokemon Legends: Arceus, it may become hard to reconcile their changes with player opinions. Also, many players would love to send their Magikarp skyward and back down like a heat-seeking missile, so hopefully Z-moves will come back one day.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is now available exclusively on Nintendo Switch.